


Willing to Forget

by write_in_ice



Series: Nightly Drabble [3]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Gen, Memory Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-09
Updated: 2013-01-09
Packaged: 2017-11-24 06:11:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/631308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/write_in_ice/pseuds/write_in_ice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hank McCoy asks Charles for a favor, to ensure the safety of his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Willing to Forget

“You can make people forget, can’t you professor?”

Charles thought of Moira and the glazed look in her eyes as the cab drove away. He nodded.

“Yes.”  
“If I asked—”  
“Henry.” Charles motioned for the boy to sit. He was still a boy, after all. Brilliant, blue, yes, but under all of that he was young and inexperienced. His once bright eyes were now troubled blue pools of worry. He sat, still wringing his hands. “What is it, Hank?”

“My mother.” He looked down at his harry, unshod feet. “She wants me to come home.”  
“You parents know you are a mutant, Hank.”  
“No. I mean yes, they know about my original mutation. They even believe my father’s nuclear work may have caused it but...not this professor. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them about...about the Beast.”

Charles took his hand. “They love you Henry.” They did. He could see that clearly in Hank’s mind. Family dinners and vacations. Happy Christmases and proud graduations. His mother’s smile and his father’s supportive hand. Charles swallowed. “They will accept this.”

“And they will be ridiculed. Look at the parents of that mutant boy. Stay away from them. Their son is a monster.” Hank bit his lip. “People will come after us. Magneto. The Government. They think we’re a threat and until we can prove that we’re not...” He pulled away and adjusted the glasses balances precariously on his nose.

“You’re worried about them, I know, but we can keep them safe”

“Like Darwin? Like the CIA operatives?  We’re not the only ones out there and neither is Magneto. I was a prodigy. There are records that will trace me to them.”  
“Those records can be changed.”

“I don’t want to take that risk. If anything happened to them and it’s my fault...I have to make sure they won’t try to find me. I need to make sure they’re not involved.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking, Hank.

“I’m asking you to make them forget me. I’m asking you to keep them safe. Alex is alone, Sean’s family is halfway around the world and you...” He stopped. “I’m sorry professor. I didn’t mean...”

“You’re right.” He thought of his mother who had been so distant he barely knew here, and his father who had died when he was just a boy. He thought of Raven’s sweet smile and cheerful laugh and the pain in his chest when she walked away from him on that beach. Moira was in his mind as well, but she had not walked away. She had been pushed, and not for her own safety as the furry blue boy in front of him asked for, but for his own safety. For his own protection. “I know what it is to be alone, my friend. You’re young. You have people who care about you. It is not something to readily give up.”

“Never seeing them again. Pretending they are strangers. If it keeps them safe, I’m willing.” Charles could feel the anguish in the young man’s mind. His thoughts raced as he poured over other scenarios and experiments but every hypothesis led him back. The boy cleared his throat a final time. “I want to do this professor. Please. Will you help me?”

Charles nodded.

“Call them, Hank. If this is really what you want. I will speak to them.”

“Thank you professor.” He turned to the door.

“Where are you going Hank?”

“I’m giving up my family, sir. I just need to clear my head, just for a moment.”

 Henry McCoy knew he was doing the right thing but it didn’t make it any less painful. 


End file.
